JI asks Mush not to leave country

LAHORE - Jamaat-i-Islami chief Syed Munawar Hasan has advised former President Pervez Musharraf to refuse to go abroad for treatment so that he can be able to defend himself in the charges against him.Addressing a Press conference at Mansoora at the start of the JI shura meeting on Friday, he said that some political and non-political forces wanted to save the military dictator from punishment.He said that instead of the Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, the ISPR should have issued a statement to explain the Armed Forces position on the issue.Munawar said if Pervez Musharraf was sent abroad, the common man would believe that the ex- General had been allowed to flee from the country. He said since every one was equal in the eyes of the law, a culprit must be punished for his crime. The former Army chief should face the law with courage and there should not be any interference by the government either, he said.The JI chief expressed reservations over the statement of Pakistan’s new envoy to the US, Jalil Abbas Jilani that a complete US pull out from Afghanistan was not desirable and remarked that whoever went to the US forgets the national interests and instead pleads for Washington. Munawar said that terrorism in the region had increased hundred per cent after the arrival of the US forces in the region.The JI chief said the PM had tasked Maulana Samiul Haq for the talk with the Taliban However, the Maulana should take his well-wishers and the nation into confidence about his mandate and priorities, he said. He further said that all the issues concerning the talks with the Taliban decided with the government should be clear. Munawar welcomed the statement of the European Union’s President on the Kashmir issue and said it had fully exposed India’s brutalities and repression on the helpless Kashmiris. The JI chief said it was the duty of the rulers to solve problems of people and protect their life, property and honour but nothing had been done in this regard. He said the Senate Standing Committee had also expressed concern over the privatisation of the major national institutions including the PIA but the government seemed to be determined to do that for securing more loans from the IMF.